Singin' and Dancing Back in Time.: top hat (1933)

Showing posts with label top hat (1933). Show all posts

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

It's Fred and Ginger vs Fred and Ginger for the first spot in the Final Four of the Favorite Classic Musical Film Tournament

It has come down to this...Fred and Ginger will be battling Fred and Ginger for the first spot in the final four of The Classic Musical Film Tournament. 3rd seed TOP HAT held off 2nd seed 42nd STREET 6-4 while 5th seed SWING TIME (my favorite of the duo's films) easily beat 8th seed FLYING DOWN TO RIO 10-1. I wonder who was the lone person that voted for Rio. Regardless, the final match is now set as Top Hat will take on Swing Time. Poll is open now and will run thru Thursday night 8 pm EST.

3 TOP HAT (1935)

5 SWING TIME (1936)

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

TOP HAT (1933)

Top Hat was the most successful picture of Astaire and Rogers' partnership and Astaire's second most successful picture after Easter Parade. While some dance critics believe that Swing Time had better dance routines,Top Hat still to this day, the pair best-known work.

Wardrobe: The "feathers" incident

Although Bernard Newman was in charge of dressing the stars, Rogers was very interested in dress design and make-up. For the "Cheek to Cheek" dance routine, she wanted to use her own creation. Astaire who normally approved his partner's gowns and suggested modifications if necessary during rehearsals saw the dress for the first time on the day of the shoot, and was horrified at the way it shed, recalling later: "It was like a chicken attacked by a coyote, I never saw so many feathers in my life." Astaire lost his temper and yelled at Rogers, who burst into tears, where her mother,"came charging at him like a mother rhinoceros protecting her young. "An additional night's work by seamstresses fixed the problem. Later, Astaire presented Rogers with a gold feather for her charm bracelet, and serenaded her with a parodying Berlin's tune:

Feathers — I hate feathers

And I hate them so that I can hardly speak

And I never find the happiness I seek

With those chicken feathers dancing

Cheek to Cheek.

Astaire nicknamed Rogers "Feathers".

Soundtracks:

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"No Strings (I'm Fancy Free)"
Words and Music by Irving Berlin
Song and Dance performed by Fred Astaire

"Isn't This a Lovely Day (to Be Caught in the Rain)?"
Words and Music by Irving Berlin
Song performed by Fred Astaire
Dance performed by Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers

"Top Hat, White Tie and Tails"
Words and Music by Irving Berlin
Song performed by Fred Astaire
Dance performed by Fred Astaire, mens chorus

"Cheek to Cheek"
Words and Music by Irving Berlin
Song performed by Fred Astaire
Dance performed by Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers

"The Piccolino"
Words and Music by Irving Berlin
Song performed by Ginger Rogers, chorus
Dance performed by Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, chorus

"The Piccolino"
Instrumental reprise
Dance performed by Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers

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Bob Fosse

Was a musical theater choreographer and director, screenwriter and film director. He won an eight Tony Awards for choreography, as well as one for direction. He was nominated for an Academy Award four times, winning for his direction of Cabaret. He was identified with his third wife, Gwen Verdon. She was both the dancer/collaborator who he choreographed much of his work and, together with dancer/choreographer Ann Reinking, a guardian of the Fosse legacy after his death. Fosse is considered to be one the most influential coreographers of the 20th Century.

Esther Williams.

JANE POWELL

After rising to fame as a singer in her home state of Oregon, Powell was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer while still in her teens. Once there, the studio utilized her vocal, dancing and acting talents, casting her in such musicals as Royal Wedding, with Fred Astaire, A Date with Judy, with friend Elizabeth Taylor and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, with Howard Keel. In the late 1950s, her film career slowed, only to be replaced with a busy theater and television career.Click picture to enter websight.

Jeanette MacDonald

Singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier (Love Me Tonight, The Merry Widow) and Nelson Eddy (Naughty Marietta, Rose-Marie, and Maytime). During the 1930s and 1940s she starred in 29 feature films, four nominated for Best Picture Oscars (The Love Parade, One Hour With You, Naughty Marietta and San Francisco), and recorded extensively, earning three gold records. She later appeared in grand opera, concerts, radio, and television. MacDonald was one of most influential sopranos of the 20th century. Click picture to view fan website.

Joan Crawford.

Click picture to view website. Joan Crawford, born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre. Starting as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway, Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925. Initially frustrated by the size and quality of her parts, Crawford began a campaign of self-publicity and became nationally known as a flapper by the end of the 1920s. In the 1930s, Crawford's fame rivaled MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. Crawford often played hardworking young women who find romance and financial success. These "rags-to-riches" stories were well-received by Depression-era audiences and were popular with women. Crawford became one of Hollywood's most prominent movie stars and one of the highest paid women in the United States, but her films began losing money and by the end of the 1930s

Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Richard Rodgers (1902 – 1979) and Oscar Hammerstein II (1895 – 1960) the songwriting duo, on our musical page. They created many popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age. With Rodgers composing the music and Hammerstein writing the lyrics, five of their shows, Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music. They won thirty-four Tony Awards, fifteen Academy Awards, the Pulitzer Prize, and two Grammys. Click picture to read movie reviews.

Cab Calloway

Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States' most popular African American big bands from the start of the 1930s through the late 1940s. Calloway's band featured performers including trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, New Orleans guitar ace Danny Barker, and bassist Milt Hinton. Calloway continued to perform until his death in 1994 at the age of 86 .Click picture to view official website.